After 3 1/2 years of helping to define Cambridge's alternative comedy scene, the Lizard Lounge Comedy Hour will give itself a ''Viking Funeral'' Monday, its last show at the club. The show will pull up stakes and move to Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway Feb. 2, where it'll be rechristened ''Off Broadway Comedy Fringe.'' Host and show creator Kim Davis is sad to leave the venue, but there was a scheduling conflict with the Lizard Lounge, and he felt the show needed a change. ''We've had a lot of good times there, and I certainly feel like we've raised the bar for the kind of comedy that works in Cambridge,'' Davis says.

According to Davis, the final show will feature his regular cast of Andy O'Fiesh and Chengda Lee, as well as comics Chris Walsh, Rich Gustus, Joe Wong, Eric Reilly Moore, Erik Charles Neilsen, and Dan Sulman and videos celebrating the show's run to date. The new show at Off Broadway in Somerville's Davis Square will see many of the same contributors but will have a new look. Davis will now choose the guest performers more carefully, and he is working on booking weekly musical guests to complement the show's mix of stand-up and sketch comedy. The result will look more like late-night television than a club show.

''What we've been going toward in the past few months has been a faux talk-variety show, with the constant theme of my authority, quote-unquote, being continually undermined by other people who are on the show,'' Davis says. Davis, who also runs the Cambridge Fringe Festival, wants Cambridge to be recognized for its alternative comedy scene. He envisions capturing the comedy industry's attention with an environment that leaves behind traditional observational stand-up.

''I don't think what's going to move this particular scene forward is stand-up comedy,'' he says. ''I see it as interesting theme shows, innovative evenings that have elements of stand-up, sketch, short films. That's going to attract the people from out of town.''

Garlin making the rounds

Jeff Garlin returns to the Comedy Connection tonight and tomorrow after a week of talk show appearances promoting a new season of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm.'' He made stops on ''The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,'' ''Tough Crowd With Colin Quinn,'' and ''Late Night With Conan O'Brien.''

Although he calls himself lucky for getting to do what he loves, he's not especially enamored of the publicity. Garlin vaguely recalls a couple of movies he's in coming out later this year and says he's probably forgotten to tell his wife and parents when he's on TV.

''When I go to a movie set or I go to a TV set or I'm onstage at a comedy club, or I'm doing a concert or whatever, I feel comfortable . . . like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, and there's no novelty,'' he says.

In the spring, Garlin will begin shooting the film ''I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With,'' in which he's writer, director, and star. He also says he'll know by March whether the sequel to the Eddie Murphy vehicle ''Daddy Day Care,'' tentatively titled ''Daddy Day Camp,'' is a go.

Comedy for a cause

Anyone looking for a way to laugh for a good cause can check out ''Comics for the Quake: A Benefit for Iranian Earthquake Survivors'' at the Middle East Upstairs Sunday from 4 to 6 p.m. The lineup will include: DJ Hazard, Janet Cormier, Peter Dutton, Deb Farrar-Parkman, Derek Gerry, Tissa Hami, Joe Wong, Erin Judge, Myq Kaplan, and Samer Mouwakeh. A massive earthquake leveled the city of Bam, Iran, on Dec. 26. The death toll is estimated at 30,000.

Hami, who is of Iranian descent, organized the benefit after seeing medical personnel from all over the United States volunteering their time in Iran. ''I thought, wow, these people who have no connection to the country are going all the way over there to help people who they don't even know,'' she says. ''When I saw them doing that, I definitely wanted to do something.''

Around town

Gary Gulman returns to Boston to play the Comedy Studio tonight and tomorrow. . . . Tom Flynn Jr., Mouwakeh, Jonesy, Annette Pollack, P.J. Walsh, and Larry Lee Lewis play Chops Lounge near the Fenway tomorrow. . . . Producers from NBC's ''Last Comic Standing'' will be in town for open auditions at the Comedy Connection Sunday. . . . Before heading off to play next week's Laughter Is Hope Festival in Houston, Bob Hagearty plays the Comedy Studio Sunday with Judge, Kaplan, Sam Walters, Jesse Gersten, Eric Reuben, Jon Rineman, and Dan Sally.